Harvest Moon & The Absent Friend
by Luna Rosa
Summary: September 1st 1973 & one of the Marauders is missing. This takes place at the beginning of the Marauders third year in school. SBRL Not PG but rated so for implied Slash. Start of 'Full Moon Series' Other instalments to come soon.


Harvest Moon & The Absent Friend.

***

Author's note: This first instalment in what I have tentatively called my '_Full Moon_' series takes place at the beginning of the Marauders third year in school. Kind of slash but only implied. Other instalments to come soon.

I've manipulated timelines from my own research to suit canon. I have always assumed that the Marauder era at Hogwarts was from September '71 until June '78. This is backed up by many sources including Harry Potter Lexicon. My research shows that the full moon fell on September 1st in 1974. Wanting to keep inline with information given in canon about the rest of the Marauders' discovery of Remus's condition I have placed it a year earlier. (After all, who wants reality when we have JK)

Title note: The Harvest Moon is the name given to the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox which usually falls in September. The harvest marks a change in the seasons and, in this story, it marks a change in the boys' relationship to each other.

***

1st September 1973 – 10:32 am.

"Can you see him yet?" a voice asked impatiently from inside the train carriage as blue eyes scanned up and down the platform which was already bustling with students and parents. From the far end loud squawking of a great grey owl could be heard and a few first years jumped at the noise. A quick smile spread across Sirius Black's lips as he remembered his first time on Platform 9 ¾, before pulling his head back through the window and sliding it shut.

"No!" he replied depressingly before dropping his body down opposite the other dark haired boy.

"So we could be right then!" was the earnest reply.

Sirius frowned; he didn't want to be right. He wanted with every fibre in his body to believe that he was completely wrong. It's awful, he thought, to go through that every month.

"James," he started, "what are we going to do if we are?"

James's eyes lifted up from the book on his lap and met Sirius's. They were slightly bewildered and saddened. 

"Everything we can Sirius," said James and Sirius nodded agreement.

James looked back down at the book ('_Werewolves and their Wild Whimsies'_ by Mike Amadan) and Sirius could see that he was re-reading what he had already studied.

"Look," James rationalised, "it says here... 'A werewolf can often be recognised in human form by several defining features, the most obvious being the eye colour of the suspected werewolf. They are usually yellowish-brown or amber in colour and may change – becoming darker and more sensitive to light – in the day leading up to a full moon.' "

"I know James but we could still be wrong." said Sirius.

" 'Also noticeable,' " James continued reading, " 'may be scars on the body from previous transformation and the suspected werewolf generally has heightened senses of smell and taste. The most obvious sign however is the day before and after the full moon, when the human will be highly aggressive and reactionary."

"Well that's a load of crap," Sirius interjected, "Remus hardly even raises his voice let alone gets _aggressive_."

James threw the book aside and sighed loudly. Sirius knew James didn't want to believe it possible as much as he did but it was true that something was wrong with Remus that he didn't want to talk about it.

"We both checked the lunar charts, Sirius, the dates fit." James said, "When he disappeared the night of Peter's birthday and New Years Eve last year. I just – why doesn't he want to tell us?" James pleaded, looking at Sirius.

"I guess there are some things you can't even tell you friends!" Sirius answered looking out the window again. James sighed at the response.

"We'll tell him we know," James continued, mostly to himself, "and it will be fine. We can help him."

"How exactly do you expect us to do that, James?" Sirius accused. "Just flick our wands and make everything ok... not everything is that simple, y'know."

"I know that Sirius," James defended, "but we're his friends. We have to do something."

"He could still show up, you know." Sirius said, staring at the large clock above the platform. "There's plenty of time." But in his heart he already knew. 

There were too many coincidences, too many times when Remus had been called home or to Dumbledore's office just when it happened to be full moon that night. At first he thought he was imaging it; Remus couldn't be a werewolf, he would have noticed, he would have known. It was after the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff last year that he knew for sure that something was _seriously_ wrong. 

Remus had left the common room the day before just after classes had finished and hadn't shown up for the rest of the night. When Sirius woke the next morning to find his bed still empty he had reassured himself that Remus had just gotten up early or was doing some extra work in the common room but he was still nowhere to be seen when the rest of the school were heading down to the Quidditch pitch in the afternoon.

James had been hit with a bludger in the closing minutes while trying to score a last goal and once the whistle had been blown he had been taken straight to the infirmary. Sirius and Peter had followed closely behind their friend and reached the infirmary soon after him.

When Sirius had entered the room he had noticed one of the beds at the far end of the room was occupied and he felt his heart stop. Madam Pomfrey had quickly pulled one of the screens around the bed but it was too late. Sirius had seen Remus lying there, seemingly unconscious, and an anger had risen inside of him. What the hell had happened to him? 

Sirius, with his fists clenched and white, had begun to stride towards Remus's bed but was intercepted by Madam Pomfrey.

"Now, now, Mr. Black," She had said while placing her hands onto Sirius's shoulder and starting to turn him around, "I think it would be best if you saw to your friend."

"_That's_ what I'm _trying to do!" Sirius growled through gritted teeth, and had stood his ground._

Madam Pomfrey's eyes had become sharp and stern.

"I imagine I _might_ know how better to do that!" she had said while looking into the eyes of the enraged twelve year old. She finally managed to turn him away from the end bed and back to James side with much effort.

"We won?" James had asked blearily and Sirius snarled a reply. James stared at him with questioning eyes.

"I'll tell you later!" Sirius bit out before stalking through the doors.

The scrapping of the compartment door opening brought Sirius back to reality and he looked up, hoping against hope, that he would see Remus's kind smiling face looking back at him.

"There you are!" a stout teenager exclaimed and Sirius smiled hello as Peter carried a big wooden cage into the carriage and dropped it onto the seat. Although Sirius could see through the bars of the cage it was impossible to tell exactly what was inside because of the amount of straw that was poking out.

"What's that?" James asked, tentatively prodded the box with his wand as Peter put his bag in the over head compartment.

"Don't do that!" Peter said protectively as he picked the cage up and opened the top carefully.

Sirius leaned forward in his seat to get a closer look at what was in the box. He saw something large green and slimy blinking back at him.

"His name's Newt," Peter explained pulling the creature out of its habitat. It blinked up at Peter with an uninterested look, "I was going to call him Snape but he's not slimy enough."

Sirius and James laughed as the looked down at the animal that was now in Peter's hands. It looked like someone has taken a year worth of boggers and put a charm on them to move around.

"My uncle brought him back from Albania for me, kind of a late birthday present."

"So what does he do?" Sirius asked of the small creature.

"Not much really," Peter answered placing him back in his box, "but I figure we can let him loose in _History of Magic_ one day, try to liven Professor Binns up a bit!"

"He'd probably never even notice." James said of the only ghost who thought in the school and was notorious if only for being as boring as the class he taught. 

Peter secured Newt in the overhead compartment and sat back down looking around at the other boys.

"So he's not here yet, then?" said Peter.

Sirius shook his head and looked out the window again. He saw a couple of Hufflepuff fifth years rush by and knew that as it got later the chances of Remus showing up at all were getting slimmer.

"It's true then," resigned Peter, looking down at his hands, "I guess I never really believed it until now." 

"We don't know for definite!" Sirius argued. "He could just be late!"

"Sirius, you know it's true," Peter replied. "How else can you explain it?"

Sirius racked his brain for something – _anything – he could think of but there __was no other explanation. He heaved an annoyed sigh._

"I just – I can't believe he would lie to us, not Remus." Sirius pulled at a loose thread on his sleeve.

"He didn't exactly lie;" said James, "he just didn't tell the truth. He was probably afraid of how we would react."

"I don't care about him being a werewolf, I just hate the fact that he felt he had to hide it from us." Sirius said standing up and trying to pull a book out of his bag.

"How are we going to talk to him then?" asked Peter. "I mean, we can't just blurt it out over breakfast or anything, can we!"

"Well no," said James, "I figured we just wait until we were all in our dorm and say it to him then, but we have to make sure he knows that it doesn't change anything," he added earnestly, "that we still all friends!"

Sirius half listened to the other two talking about the particulars of the 'talk' with Remus. He knew how he felt about it, and even if they were going to try to help Remus what use could they really be! Remus would turn into the wolf every month. He would have to go through that every month for the rest of his life and no matter what the others did, they couldn't change that fact.

He untied his copy of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ and it fell open on a page he had read and re-read a million times by now. It gave him a strange comfort to see the words under his eyes once again. He had imagined Remus going through the transformation time and time again and it had left him cold. It wasn't fair, Sirius thought, Remus had never asked for it. Had never done anything to deserve it and yet he was forced to go through this terrible experience every single month. 

Sirius looked down at the pages of the book and allowed his hair to fall in front of his eyes, hiding them from the other two boys. He didn't want them to see how upset he was and he could feel the emotions rising in his. _Fight them back,_ he told himself. In an effort to calm himself he started reading the words.

'...and fully transforms, not at sunset – as is the common misconception – but at moon rise. The werewolf hungers for human flesh during this time and although it has been known to kill other animals for food this is highly unusual and does not occur unless the werewolf has been starved for many months or comes across an animal that is already fatally injured. It has even been known to see werewolves travel in packs or even with other animals.'

A hand on his shoulder jolted Sirius from the book.

"Sirius." said James. "I've been talking to you for the last minute!"

"Sorry," Sirius mumbled and put the book aside. "What were you saying?"

"We've left King's Cross," said James.

Sirius looked out to window to see that, not only had they left the station but outside the window countryside was already speeding by them.

"Oh," said Sirius, looking at the others, "I guess that's it then."

"Yeah," the other two answered but Sirius could see the apprehension in their eyes. He heard a small rustle coming from above Peter's head and his eyes travelled up to the box which held Newt safely inside. He felt himself sigh inwardly, how much easier would his life be if he was a toad. He wouldn't have to worry about school or exams. He wouldn't have to worry about Snape and his insidious Slytherin face but most of all he wouldn't have to worry about his friend being a werewolf or what it was doing to him. Sirius smiled at the thought... being a slimy toad had never been so attractive in his life.

"Do you think any of the teachers know?" asked Peter tentatively and Sirius snapped his eyes down to meet the smaller boy's face.

"What did you say?!" said Sirius.

"Do you think the teachers know?" repeated Peter. "McGonagall maybe?" 

Sirius eyes widened.

Sirius hand shot out and picked up the book beside him. He ignored his friends' quizzical looks and searched the page until he found the paragraph he was looking for. '...It has even been known to see werewolves travel in packs or even with other animals.'

"We're his pack," Sirius mumbled under his breath.

"What?" asked James.

"Don't you see," Sirius said frantically prodding the page, "we're his pack!"

"What are you talking about, Sirius?" Peter asked his face concerned as Sirius raised his voice even further.

"Werewolves only want humans. They don't care about other animals; they're no use to them. At full moon we'd only be in danger if we were with Remus as humans." 

Peter's face frowned.

"What do you mean?" asked Peter.

"He means," James said, his eyes wide with coming realisation, "we'd be safe if we weren't there as humans!"

"Exactly," Sirius said excitedly. "Everything I've read, everything that's been written about werewolves, says they attack humans but if there is another animal near them then they're pretty safe."

"So what are you saying we turn ourselves in animals?" Peter asked in disbelief.

"Animagi." James said in a whisper and Peter turned his head to the boy beside him. "Of course... we could spend the full moon with Remus and no one would have to know."

"But that takes years, even if it's possible," said Peter, "and we'd have to registe -"

"No!" Sirius interjected. "No one can know about it, just the four of us. The same as no one can know about Remus, unless he wants to tell them."

James looked up at Sirius turning his eyes to Peter and then back again.

"Do you think we could do it, I mean it is pretty advanced magic."

"We have to try, for Remus... we have to at least try." Sirius said. "We can figure it out if we put our heads together. Just like anything else!"

"Remus won't believe it," Peter said, a smile playing on his lips. 

"It'll prove we care about him." James said. "That the werewolf thing doesn't matter."

"Yeah," said Sirius, "it will!"

They sat there for a moment in complete shock at what they had just agreed to do. They all wanted to do it desperately but it was a lot of work and would probably take years before they could even attempt a transformation.

As they speed even further through the countryside and back to school, Sirius looked at the two boys opposite him and imagined what animal they would turn into. 

James, he thought, would probably be an eagle. Maybe it was his skill on a broom or the way his glasses looked like the rings around an eagle's eyes but there was something about the other boy that made Sirius think he shouldn't be tied to the ground. It was in the air that James had always looked most at peace, most himself.

Peter... Peter was harder to place, Sirius remembered back in first year, before the Sorting, when they had all wondered what House they would be placed into. Peter had already resigned himself to Hufflepuff, 'That's me,' Peter had consoled himself, 'nice but dim.' Sirius remembered how delighted he had been when the Shorting Hat had called out Gryffindor and the surprise on Peter's face had been a picture.

Himself – well – he wondered if it was possible to transform into a wolf. Maybe he was being silly but he thought it would be the biggest compliment to Remus if he could do that. It would make them closer, as humans and animals.

That night they had eaten and greeted the other Gryffindor students back to school. A few had noticed Remus's absence but the three of them had quickly managed to explain it away. 

Dumbledore had welcomed them back to the new school year with a few oddly proffered words and a reminder that the Whomping Willow was _completely out of bounds this year. His half moon glasses had briefly fallen on Sirius during this warning and Sirius had felt the back of his neck redden slightly._

***

Sirius sat on the window sill beside his bed and looked out at the Hogwarts ground bathed in the silvery light of the moon. As he sat there he wondered where exactly Remus was tonight; how this full moon was affecting him.

Sirius's eyes fell onto the Whomping Willow. It seemed unusually still in the September air. He remembered last year when Davey Gudgeon had nearly lost an eye because of the foolish game they used to play. Dumbledore had been disappointed in them which had made Sirius feel worst then a hundred detentions. 

Remus had sat and listened to Sirius complain about Davey's slow-footedness and Sirius remembered seeing an odd shiver pass over Remus's face when he mentioned the Whomping Willow. 

Sirius looked over at the other two occupants of the room who were already fast asleep. He turned his head to look at the other empty bed, the covers were neatly made and the pillows lay untouched. Sirius wondered if they still smelt of Remus or whether the house elves had washed that away. 

He felt himself walked over and lay down on the bed. He inhaled deeply and underneath the soap, he felt something else creep into his nostrils. Something warm and friendly, something he had missed over the summer months but felt like he had missed it his whole life.

As the fragrance travelled up his nose and into his lungs Sirius felt his body relax. Remus would be okay, he told himself. They would figure this all out. He would become an Animagus for his friend. 

With that thought in his mind Sirius felt himself drifting off to sleep.

He would do everything for him.

For Remus!

***

Thank you for reading. 

I gave Peter a toad because in '_Prisoner of Azkaban' Harry says that in his imagining of how Sirius 'killed' Peter he looks a lot like Neville Longbottom. Also Peter is not snivelling and weak in this (or not apparently so) because it never made sense to me why the rest of the marauders would be so close if he was. Surely he would have had to have some of the Gryffindor attributes to get into the House and obviously Sirius trusted him enough to believe that he would not betray them even thought he was not the best wizard._

As always this story is dedicated to Queen P. I know it's not as slashy as you would like but hey, a girl's got to have a day off. 

Shameless plug: if you like this my other fic 'Escape' is a bit better (I think so anyway) and a lot longer.

By the way I'm not sure if anyone noticed but it is never said in canon that James is a seeker. I didn't realise this until reading an interview with JK where she was quoted as saying he was a chaser. I thought this was a misprint and have subsequently re-read all books (with Queen's help) and although it does say James played Quidditch it never says in what position! I had always just assumed that James was a seeker because Harry is but in fact (according to JK interview) he was actually a chaser. Who Knew! Anyway this little note is just for the others out there who hadn't realised this and probably got annoyed at my reference to James trying to score a goal. Sorry folks but it's true, we have all just been deluding ourselves. (Well I have anyway)

***

I wanted to comment on a review I received, my first for this story in fact. Moongirl asks the question   
_'why didn't Remus aboard the train? I mean, as far as I understood there was a full moon that day yes, but he could have aboarded the train and still go to the shack afterwards...?  
_I do have a reason for this. The Hogwarts Express does not arrive at Hogsmeade until the early evening so by my reckoning it would take at least an hour or two to continue the journey to Hogwarts grounds, perform The Sorting and have the welcoming feast. It would be rather late in the day (or night) by the time Remus finally managed to wander off unnoticed towards the Whomping Willow. So I guess it was decided by 'the powers that be' that Remus would come to the school either the day before or by another means of transport so as not to raise suspicion. I think Remus would be agreeable to this. He is just as afraid of hurting someone unintentionally and knows he would be better taken care of by Madam Pomfrey.

I hope this makes sense if not let me know.

 If you like this read 'Long Nights Moon and Restless Minds' – the second instalment in the series. It set further on in the marauders years and is a bit riskier by a mile.

I might continue this for another chapter if you guys like it by the way. Just give a few weeks to recover from my cramming session last night. :-


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